The Fate of the Elric Children
by GBlackwell
Summary: Discontinued
1. Ed's children, and their fate

**Set after Brotherhood/ the manga. I read a few stories in which Ed's kids grow up to be just like him and get involved in human transmutation or some other kind of weird alchemy. I decided to use that formula, although I know its kind of cliche. **

**My main thought that spurred this, though, was, "What if Ed's son grew up to be less noble than his father?" I mean, Ed was incredibly selfish, proud, and arrogant to start out with. The only things that drove him to become good was being humiliated by Truth, and then having to rely on his only remaining family and friends, who supported him and brought out the best in him. So, I have Ed's son, who doesn't have the kind of friendly or familial connections that Ed had to bring him back from the edge. **

**You might wonder, "But Ed and Winry wouldn't allow their kids to grow up wrong!" Well, I'll explain about that later.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Elrics**

The last time Roy Mustang had seen Edward Elric was two years ago, shortly after and Winry's second child was born. Edward had excitedly called everyone he knew down to Resembool, and so the whole gang had come to see the little girl, with the unfortunate exception of Alphonse and Mei, who would be arriving a few days late because of the difficulty of traveling from Xing on such short notice.

Mustang remembered seeing the Edward holding up the young girl in his arms, exclaiming, "Isn't she adorable? She looks exactly like her mom! And she's so _small!_" the former alchemist was grinning.

"Just like her father," Roy hadn't missed the opportunity to snark. The smile on Ed's face quickly turned into a glare.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING-!"

"Edward!" Winry interrupted, "Don't yell in the child's ear! You'll make her deaf!"

Edward shut his mouth and had to be content to glare at Mustang, who smirked in return. "I'm not short anymore, damn it! I'm 5' 10,'' not short."

"And yet, still so insecure about your height."

"Shut it," Ed said, and proceeded to dote on his daughter. "Aren't you gorgeous? Yes you are. Yes you are."

"So much like Hughes," Riza had said, allowing herself a slight smile at the scene.

When the infant had fallen asleep, Ed lowered her into her cradle. Their other child, a boy, was playing on the floor with Rose's son and laughing endlessly. He and Rose's son ran over to the cradle, trying to peek over and see the little baby. Winry picked up her son and let him peek over the edge of the cradle. The young boy laughed

Mustang would always remember the image of the Elric family in that moment, a golden family that seemed to radiate warmth and affection.

* * *

Roy actually didn't see Edward much after that. He had fallen out of touch, like one does with a lot of people. He was immersed in the work of rebuilding Ishbal; Ed was raising his family. He would often think about the short, blond Fullmetal Alchemist and his adventures, or would often reminisce about them with his comrades, laughing over past absurdities over a bottle of liquor. He knew that he would see his subordinate again someday, and he knew that he didn't need to bother to write in order to know that their relationship was the same. Ed probably wouldn't appreciate a letter anyway.

When he was pronounced Fuhrer and the official inauguration ceremony was being arranged, he did send something of a letter to his former subordinate:

Edward Elric

You are formally invited to the inauguration of Fuhrer Roy Mustang

You may bring family if you so desire

And you better pay back the 520 cens you owe me, pipsqueak.

He knew nothing else was necessary.

So the day of the inauguration, he was surprised to not find the Elrics at the ceremony. Then later, when he found 520 cens on his table, he wasn't sure whether to smile or frown.

* * *

He told Hawkeye about it the next day.

"Sir?"

"He left 520 cens on my desk," he said, without bothering to explain who he was talking about.

Hawkeye understood. "Elric." She stated, "You don't look very happy about it. Why? What's wrong with him paying you back that way?"

There was a pause.

Riza continued, "You really wanted to see him again, didn't you?"

"Not only that," Roy conceded, a little hesitantly, "But he said that when he paid it back, he would borrow more until 'the country was a democracy' and then after he had paid that back, he would borrow it until I had accomplished something else."

"I see. So him not borrowing more…"

"Implies that he doesn't intend to visit central again, but wants to make sure that he's not in debt," Roy finished.

Riza thought for a while. "Well, sir, I am sorry you won't get to use any of those short jokes you have been rehearsing."

Catching her attempt to joke, and thus stop the moment from descending into melancholy, he said weakly, "Yeah, I know. I had a whole set prepared for the inauguration."

"And you practiced them in the mirror, no doubt."

"Hey!"

"Along with your inauguration speech."

Roy chuckled a little.

* * *

There were two notable events that happened in weeks following.

The first: Selim Bradley disappeared. Actually, it seemed he had disappeared the night of the inauguration. Roy had a secret search party out to look for him, ready to eliminate him in case he had returned to his vicious homunculus self. However, when they found the boy about a week later, he was just crying about being lost in the parade, how he hated the dark, and how he wanted his mommy. Roy came by to check to check on the boy, and noticed that the boy's eyes had turned from their usual black color into a sort of dark violet. Also, that he was whimpering something to himself, something like, "I'm sorry."

The second: He proposed to Riza Hawkeye. Probably the most awkward moment of his life, but she accepted.

* * *

He always felt that he would see Edward Elric's golden eyes glaring at him again one day. He was right, but it happened on a day and in such a way that he would never have expected it.

He was visiting Liore, performing some duty as Fuhrer that was insignificant enough for him to forget about it later. Riza was with him, of course, as were all of his men: Breda, Havoc, Fuery, and Falman. He remembered it being an obnoxiously hot day, despite the rain a few days ago (rain was rare but not nonexistent in Liore.) In fact, he was just being driven to his personal train when sudden they saw an enormous mob, complete with sharp objects. The mob was surrounding an old house, but was large enough that it was blocking the streets.

"What's… that?" Fuhrer mustang had asked Breda, who was acting as his chauffer.

"An angry mob," Breda said, "and they look seriously ticked off. But not at you, it seems."

"Well, we need to get by; can you ask them to move?"

"Well, I'll try," Breda said. He stepped out of the car, closed the door, and shouted to the mob, asking them to move. They all shook their heads, quietly but gravely. Breda seemed to ask them what was going on, and one kid in the crowd launched into what seemed to be an explanation. Breda nodded, and stepped back into the car.

"Uh, well it seems that they had trapped some 'creator of abominations' here in this house, some sort of evil man who tried to sacrifice a girl and create a monster or something like that."

Roy looked at Riza, who nodded in return. "Sounds like alchemy," Roy said.

"Do you think we should take charge of the situation?" Riza asked.

"Why not? It's been a while since I've seen some action," Roy grinned, and with that, he stepped out of the car.

They got an account of the situation from the people outside. Someone had performed some sort of "abomination" that sounded unsettlingly similar to human transmutation. He had used a young girl in the experiment. The townspeople had found out and tried to apprehend him—apparently he had seriously wounded many of them during the chase. They had finally chased him to this house, but he had sealed the place tight with alchemy. Currently, they were trying to break down the door with shovels, hammers, and other mundane items.

"Stand back," Mustang commanded in his most authoritative voice. At his command, they stopped and looked at him.

"I hope you can hear me, you in that house! Come out, and you'll receive a fair investigation! Stay in there, and I'll burn down the doors of the house and drag you out!"

There was a long pause, as though whoever was in the house was considering his options. Finally, a young voice called out, "FUCK YOU!"

"Well, you have your answer, Fuhrer," Riza deadpanned.

Roy clapped then snapped his fingers. Immediately, the front door was burned to a crisp. He heard a collective gasp from the onlookers, as well as a surprised snarl from within.

"I'll burn you to a crisp unless you surrender! Now!"

"NO!"

"Wait!" Roy called to the people who were about to launch themselves in there. "It's likely too dangerous for civilians." Another snap, and he had burned off the roof.

"How flashy," Riza murmured.

Clap, snap, and he the entire front of the structure was on fire.

"Now. Go in and secure the fugitive," Mustang ordered some of his bodyguards.

Soon, they were dragging out a young man, dressed in rags. He was covered in blood, dirt, and sweat. He was snarling, struggling to get out of the grip of the men. When they had fully dragged him out of the house, Roy's jaw dropped.

Edward Elric's golden eyes glared back at him.

And that wasn't the least of it. There was the automail: right arm, left leg. There was the golden, braided hair. There was the fierce determination in his posture, even as he was held down by the officers.

But it couldn't be Edward Elric, because Edward Elric would have been in his thirties by now. And this… boy was still in his teens. Exactly like Ed was in his teens, but…

"Taller," Mustang said, barely out loud. He smiled, even as he felt his hand drop and his knees go a bit weak. He saw Riza give him a slight nod, pale though she was.

The boy glared at him for a second and then closed his eyes, as though in contempt. The officers hauled him away. Then, some more carried another heap out, a young girl who bore a stunning resemblance to Winry Rockbell, when she had been that age. Except this girl was missing her legs, and had a listless expression in her eyes. This made Mustang realize what was going on.

"His kids… they're…"

"What will you do?" Riza asked.

"I… I don't know."

* * *

He went to visit the girl first.

She looked a lot like her mother, but he saw the traces of Ed in her deathly pale features. Her entire body was limply propped up in a hospital bed, and IV's were stuck in her skin. Her hair was a light blond, again like her mother's, and it fell messily over her shoulders and down to her waist. Her build was…

…_So small! _He remembered Ed's voice crooning to his daughter in his head, _ Isn't she adorable? She looks just like her mother!_

Her paleness from loss of blood and the lifelessness in her remaining limbs were both saddening, but the real heartbreaker was her eyes. They were wide, and blue at first glance, but once he looked closer he saw that they were a shocking mix between gold and blue. Gold at the center, closer to the pupils, but blending into a light, sky blue on the outside. The expression in those eyes, though, was devoid of any thought or emotion. They stared forward like a pretty doll's glass eyes, not really seeing anything around them.

_Aren't you gorgeous? Yes you are. Yes you are. Yes you are yes you are yesyouare_

He asked a nurse if the girl would be able to answer questions anytime soon, but the woman shook her head, and replied, "No, I don't think she's going to be answering any questions, ever. I think she's completely paralyzed."

"Paralyzed?" Roy asked.

"Look," the nurse said, and she went over to the girl. She pinched her on the arm; the girl didn't move. She pinched her again on the neck, only to be met with no response. She clapped her hands in front of the girl's face; her pretty, glassy eyes didn't even blink.

* * *

The boy, he learned later, had serious medical complications as well. Apparently, he had gotten fit with his automail a few days ago, and had been using it heavily without going through the rehabilitation process. The doctors who had examined him when he was sedated reported that the flesh around his automail ports was purple and bleeding from the stress he had put on them. There was also some sort of metal transmuted on his chest, but they had been unable to determine anything about it. It seemed like the boy had tried to make a sort of bullet proof vest to stop himself from being shot in the heart while on the run.

He had the boy brought to a decent interrogation room, with Breda and Falman guarding. The boy sat proudly at the table, surveying the room with a frown. Then, he met Mustang's gaze calmly, and stated, "You're the Fuhrer. Fuhrer Mustang."

"That is right," Mustang responded.

"Okay, so why the fuck are you questioning me? Why'd you get involved with my case in Liore? Shouldn't you be doing paperwork or something?"

Mustang looked at the boy, again thinking about how he looked so much like Edward Elric. However, as much as the boy looked like him, there was something in his expression that made him radically different. It was his eyes; although they were the same shape and color as his father's, they were narrowed into a cruel, proud expression.

"Did you perform human transmutation?" Roy Mustang asked again.

"Don't you have proof of that? I'm certain you saw the thing I created."

He had. Horrible, bloody, dead thing, not even as human as Edward and Alphonse's attempt had been. "Do you deny using human transmutation?"

"No, I don't deny it," the boy said.

"Was your sister… did she participate as an equal partner in the transmutation?"

This earned him a long, hard look from the boy. Mustang could practically feel the brain behind that face considering every option. Finally, he said, "Who?"

"Your sister."

The boy's eyes shifted away for a moment. "I don't have a sister. What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Your sister. The girl that the townspeople say you used as a sacrifice."

"Her? What makes you think she's my sister?" he gave a contemptuous snort. "Do you think we're related because we're both blonds?"

"No, because you are both Elric siblings."

The boy's mouth dropped, and his eyes widened in complete and utter shock. "H-How…?" he began, only to cut himself off, shake his head, and glare again. "So you know the name Elric," he said.

"Yes. Now tell me, did your sister willingly participate in the human transmutation? I believe she did, because I doubt you would attempt to sacrifice your own…"

"Why should I give a damn if she's my sister?" The young man shouted, "She… the bitch deserved what she got. Yes, I used her in the transmutation. Yes, it was against her will. Happy?" the young man snarled.

Roy was too taken aback by the viciousness of the boy's speech to say anything.

"Oh, you think that just because she looks so _sweet _now that she's a little weak, means that I must be a monster to have done that to her," the boy laughed harshly. "Whatever. Think that if you want."

"So, you're saying that your sister deserved what you did to her."

The boy shut his mouth.

"Why did you do it?"

"Does it matter why? Just give me whatever the hell is the punishment for forbidden alchemy and be done with it. Is it execution? Fine. Life imprisonment? Fine. Will I have to work on some messed-up government experiments? Fine by me. Just get it over with."

"I asked a question. Why did you perform human transmutation?"

The boy looked at him keenly, "If you insist on knowing, why does anyone perform human transmutation? Because they can. Why did I do it? Because I _could." _He paused then started up again, his face twisting into a look of disgust, "You see, my teacher told me, 'All is one, one is all.' Essentially, that we're all part of this flow, that I as an individual human must accept my humble status as an insect in the bigger picture. I would die someday, and no one would care. The world would keep turning, the sun would keep shining, all that shit. If I lost someone I liked, I would just have to shut up about it, because it was evil to want to bring them back. They all said that is was wrong to want power beyond what was normally possible."

The boy sighed and added, "I didn't buy it. I wanted to be more than just some ordinary human that would die and not mean anything to the world. I wanted power. Still do. So I tried my hand at opening the gate. I didn't care who I involved in the process, or who I hurt. People who care about a detail so stupid tend not to reach their goals. So there you go."

Roy gaped at the cool, uncaring words coming from the boy's mouth. Ed would never have said these things, never. Seeing Ed's face (the boy looked so much like him that it might as well have been) bearing that cruel, arrogant frown, hearing those words come from his mouth was… just…wrong.

Some part of Roy wanted to say that this was not Ed's son, that it was Envy, somehow come back from the dead to torment him by taking Ed's likeness and sounding like Shou Tucker.

The boy interrupted his thoughts, "But you shouldn't ask me why. Haven't you performed human transmutation yourself? I heard you clap before you transmuted, you bloody hypocrite."

Mustang ignored the question, and instead asked another, "Where are your parents, Edward and Winry Elric? What would your father say to all this?"

The boy said in the most matter of fact voice, "My father is either dead in a ditch or he abandoned us years ago. Why should I give a damn what he would say to this?"

Mustang's mouth dropped open, "Edward Elric…your father went missing?"

"Yeah, a decade or so back. If you knew him, you ought to know that."

Mustang sat back in his chair and let this sink in. Ed had been missing for ten years or so. That was why he had stopped writing. "And your mother?"

"Dead, _obviously_," the boy said as though it were the most apparent fact in the entire world.

Mustang was quiet. He wished he could remember the names that these children were supposed to have, but it had been too long, and his memory had faded. "What is your name? And your sister's?"

"I'm not telling. Like it would matter, anyway. You know that we're _Elrics_, whatever that means to you. Just get the sentencing over with already."

Roy sighed, "Do you have any requests? Someone you would like to call, a friend…? Your uncle, maybe?"

"The last I heard of my uncle, he was in Xing. Haven't seen him in years, because he is too busy to being a hotshot alchemist. I don't need anyone to visit." The then seemed struck by a thought, "I do need to see my sister a bit before you off me or imprison me or what."

"Why? You said she deserved what she got."

The boy sighed, "Are you going to allow me to see her, or not? This is not supposed to be a sentimental visit."

"What is the purpose of your visit, then?"

"Tie up a few loose ends. Need to discuss the family assets and all that shit. I'm certain she'll agree to it, if you ask her."

"She's not in a condition where she'll agree to anything right now."

The boy blinked, then his face transformed into a hideous snarl, "Are you not going to let her decide for herself? Fuck you! It's my right to receive visitors! I have business to take care of!"

"That's not the issue. Your sister is paralyzed and unable to speak."

"No she isn't," the boy said stubbornly.

"Yes, she is. She is completely unresponsive."

"You're lying. I won't believe you until I see for myself."

Mustang sighed, "Fine. We'll let you see her."

* * *

"Oh, wow," the boy said upon seeing his sister, "You weren't lying."

His hands, flesh and automail, were cuffed in a way that prevented him from clapping his hands together. He frowned down at the girl in the bed, and stepped a little closer to her, examining her.

"I see, the gate took it away from you," he murmured, partially to himself, "Your… soul. Can you still hear me, I wonder? There has to be a bit of your soul left in there if you're still alive. There has to be…something there. Mina? I'm guessing you can hear me right now," he paused, and glared at the soldiers, then he said, "Well, these bastards are listening, so I'm not going to say much. Just… I didn't expect it to go so far."

"It's a bit late for you to be apologizing for doing this to your little sister," Mustang said sternly.

The boy opened his mouth, probably to say another swear word. But then, he just said, "You know, she'd be really pissed if she heard you call her little."

For a moment, there was something like a smirk on the boy's face, and Mustang unwillingly found himself sharing in that smirk. But then, Mustang wiped the expression off his face and the boy reverted to a scowl.

The boy turned to leave, but suddenly a hand gripped his wrist. The girl's, Mina's.

He gasped, and everyone else in the room jumped. The boy's face had fear written on it, but he gave in to the grip and came closer to his sister, and stared into her glassy eyes. "What, Mina?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

The girl's eyes hadn't changed, and not a muscle moved on her face. She dropped his wrist then suddenly clapped her hands together. Before anyone knew what was happening, she had slammed her hands against her brother's chest, blue light shining forth.

Her brother gurgled and fell to his knees. The girl clapped one more time and placed her hands on his arm. He winced as the blue light ran down his arm. Then, she reached down and did it on his leg. It buckled and he fell face-flat on the floor.

The guards ran over to pick up the boy on the floor, but he thrashed away from their grasp. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" He said. Then, he paused, "Actually, it feels…" he didn't finish the sentence, but looked down at his sister, who had remained completely expressionless, and was now limp again. He clenched his jaw and turned his eyes away.

Mustang suddenly remembered the scene so many years ago, in which the Elric family had been radiating golden happiness and love. He remembered the young toddler looking down at his infant sister, slightly perplexed and slightly enamored. He considered, for a moment, all that must have happened to turn that innocent, laughing young face into that arrogant frown; everything that had turned the bubbling little infant girl into this sad, catatonic victim.

"Alright, I'm done here. You can take me out," the boy said.

Later, when the doctors checked on the Elric boy, they found that the bruising around his automail ports had healed considerably. Also, some damage done to the automail itself was completely fixed. Roy realized what had happened: the girl, Mina, had done that for her brother.

* * *

"Is something wrong?" Riza asked him in private.

"What isn't?" he replied, "To think that he sacrificed his own sister, and that he didn't even thank his sister when she fixed him up."

"There have been more depraved people before," she said, "But…"

"But he has Ed's face."

Riza nodded, and looked down. "When he said those things about wanting power, it was like…"

"Like Envy," Riza agreed.

"And Ed is missing. And his children… look what happened to them. He wouldn't have abandoned them purposefully, not after his own troubles with abandonment. So I'm guessing he's…"

Dead. The unspoken word seemed to ring throughout the room. Ed was dead, and Winry was dead, and their son had grown up to be a depraved alchemist who sacrificed a portion of his sister's soul in order to get power.

"I don't think I've had such a shock, except for when Selim and Elysia began dating," Mustang said.

"Yes, but that's not comparable, since it turned out to be a relatively good thing. This is… horrible. Only horrible."

Mustang though for a while, then said, "There's something missing from the boy, other than an arm and a leg."

Riza looked at him.

"Think about it. Why did the girl…Mina…clap and transmute something on his chest, and then later on do the same thing to his leg and arm?"

"Metal heart?" asked Riza, "Is that even possible with current technology?"

"Well, you have two prodigies whose parents were an alchemic genius and an automail genius. Who knows what they came up with?"

"On that subject," Riza said, "There's something that I've been trying to figure out. Somehow, after the transmutation, he got automail. I doubt that he would have been able to fit himself, especially considering the state he must have been in at the time."

"So someone must have been there. An accomplice who fixed him up a bit before he ran out."

"But then his accomplice left him? And if he supposedly doesn't care what happens to his sister, why did he carry her away from the place where he performed the transmutation?"

Mustang sighed, "That's something I was thinking about as well. My thought was that they bother performed the transmutation, like Edward and Alphonse, but he's trying to shield her from the government by taking the blame himself. I wondered if maybe she gave him the automail, but I suppose it would have been impossible when she had lost two legs and part of her soul or whatever happened… no, wait."

"Roy?"

"She was able to perform a transmutation when we were there. But there's clearly something missing. She hasn't responded at all since performing the transmutation. So maybe, assuming that her soul is mostly gone, the only part of her soul that's left is the part that's loyal to her brother no matter what, and wants to protect him. If that were the case then she might have fit him with the automail, since the only thought she is capable of having now are the ones that tell her to fix her brother when something has happened to him."

"So basically, she's his mindless puppet, now?"

"Maybe. None of this is making any sense. At any rate, I'll have to find a way to contact Alphonse and tell him what a mess his niece and nephew got into."

Mustang thought he saw an unnatural flicker of the shadows when he left their room, but he decided that he was just seeing things.

* * *

The young Elric sat staring at the ceiling of his cell. It was clean and comfortable, all things considered. Not much worse than his own room, except missing the alchemy books that lined the walls, of course.

His brows were furrowed hard at the ceiling, thinking hard about the events of the previous days. His hand was over his heart, a gesture that might have been mistaken for repentance, except for the hateful look in his eyes, a mixture between agony and wrath.

He thought of Fuhrer Mustang. He wished he had asked more questions about how Mustang knew his father, as that seemed to be why he knew so much about them. He wondered if maybe his father had worked under him when he was in the military; that would explain it. But those were just secondary thoughts on his mind. His main focus was on figuring out what he would do next.

Nothing, it seemed. He was captured, something he hadn't intended on happening. Wilhelmina was, for the most part, out of order. His friends back in Liore probably didn't even know what he had done or where he had ended up; to them, he would always be the friend that disappeared one day and never returned. This was… the end.

No. Fuck that. It wasn't the end. It couldn't be. He had thought it was the end when he was standing at the gate.

_Oh-ho, Mr. Al-che-mist. I didn't expect to find you here, not after what your _father _did. Didn't he raise you to know better?_

_Well, there's only one of you this time, so I suppose that I'll be taking it _all. _Yes, _all of it. _Arm, leg, heart, body, soul, and your life, duh. And all of it, piece by piece._

But it hadn't been the end.

What had the Truth said about his father? His father hadn't even been an Alchemist, if he remembered correctly. Not that Mom had talked about him a lot.

Dammit all. His heart… it hurt. The stuff that he took to lessen the pain was gone… It hurt so bad….

_First your leg, then your arm, because I think it's funny and ironic to take those, the family history and all considered. And next, your heart… well, you should be able to figure out why I took that one. And after that, your other leg…_

He had survived that, against all odds. And now, he was imprisoned for his 'crime.' Hadn't he paid enough for it? He had lost body parts, for crying out loud! Wasn't it enough that he had to pay this way, without being killed or imprisoned the rest of his life? Damn them! Damn the military, damn the people who had discovered him, damn the WORLD! Damn the fucking _Truth! _

This would not defeat him. Not after… that.

There was only one reason that he wasn't breaking down and sobbing in complete despair at his imprisonment. That reason? Because he had already done that. He had already gone through that disgusting, pathetic human cycle of despair days before, when he had awoken to burning electricity transmuting something where his heart was supposed to be.

When, half awake, he listlessly looked at the result of his transmutation and shuddered, realizing what he had created.

When, despite not knowing who was touching him, he felt automail ports jammed into his bloody stumps, and felt as though all of his nerves were on fire. Somehow, he had barely retained consciousness throughout all of it, his vision blurring all the while.

When he focused enough to see his sister limp and legless on the floor, and heard her whimper, "Brother."

When her eyes closed with the last of the transmutation light, in what he thought was a faint, THEN he had broken down in complete despair at his failure. THEN he had mumbled, "It didn't work; it didn't work," like an idiot. THEN he had screamed in rage and slammed his fist on the floor.

He should have realized that the screaming would attract neighbors, that neighbors would later form mobs, and mobs would later try to apprehend him. If he had realized that earlier, then he wouldn't be in this predicament now. Despair, tears, weeping… these were all useless weaknesses that had gotten him into a worse predicament.

So now, instead of screaming and tearing up the room in frustration, he thought.

And thought.

And thought.

This… this was really how it was going to end, wasn't it? Trapped, caged, no longer free to wander around and research alchemy… perhaps executed… this was the end.

No, it wasn't.

There was nothing he could do now, but… later, there would be some opening, so way he could escape. He would find a way to set things right again.

It was when he was in this state of mind that he noticed shadows creeping into the room. He jumped, considering whether that was at all possible, considering the laws of science. The shadows crept through the cracks on the door and spread until they had covered the whole room. It was about that time that he decided that shadows didn't move that way and that he must be hallucinating. He kept that in mind as the room turned pitch black.

Then, a million eyes opened all around the room. He jumped, instinctively assuming a fighting stance.

"_So, you performed human transmutation?" _a mouth somewhere in the shadows asked.

It wasn't a hallucination. It was real. As real as Truth had been.

"Fuck," the boy responded, feeling fear pulse through his being, along with a reckless lack of concern for whatever happened to him next. "You people really don't know when to let it rest, do you? First I lose various body parts, then I'm chased by an angry mob, then I'm put in jail, then I get visited by the devil. You know what? I'm revising my life's philosophy. I'm not an atheist anymore. There's gotta be a god out there, specifically taking pleasure in all this delayed punishment. It's all been too… absurd for it to have happened randomly. Well, do your worst, motherfucker."

The… thing chuckled. "_You talk as though it were the entire world was in a conspiracy against yourself."_

"Well, yeah. I always thought life was tough before the transmutation, but after I tried that it seems as though every atom in the universe has turned against me. Like I'm some sort of alien… bacteria or something that the world it trying to get out of its system. Which I guess, makes sense, if you buy into all that 'human transmutation is the world's greatest evil' shit."

"_It was unwise to attempt human transmutation."_

"Oh really? Gosh, thanks for telling me! As though I haven't figured it out after losing a few limbs and being chased across town by a crazy mob."

"_You are unexpectedly forthcoming, considering that you are faced with an inhuman entity."_

"Was that a compliment? Or a criticism?"

"_A fact. Take it how you will."_

"Smartass. Who are you, anyway?"

"_Quid pro quo, young Elric. If I answer your question, will you answer mine?"_

"Depends on what it is," the young man answered, feeling his shaking body relax a little. If this thing wanted to ask him questions, then it wasn't going to kill him immediately.

"_Then I'll go first. Why did you perform human transmutation?"_

"Because I could. Because I wanted to be powerful."

"_That's not what I meant. I heard that speech you gave to Mustang. I want to know the true reason. Was it to bring someone back to life?"_

The young man's defiant face flinched for a second. He said, stiffly, "Yeah. That."

"_Who?"_

"…A couple of people."

"_And what were these people to you?"_

"Well, It was different for each one. Umm, one was a friend, one was my mom, one was… a kid that I killed. Actually the kid I killed was the main one, because I wanted people to stop calling me a murderer. Then, when I decided to do it, I said 'Fuck sanity, I want to bring them all back.' So, yeah."

"_Three people? A bold attempt."_

"Well, I was kinda unhinged, looking back on it now. You see, they all died in the same week. And I had gotten a philosopher's stone, so I thought that I…" he trailed off.

"_A philosopher's stone?" _the shadow-thing asked, intrigued, "_How did you obtain one?"_

"Hey, you said quid pro quo. I've answered three of your questions, now I get to ask three."

"_Very well, young Elric."_

"First: Who are you?"

"_Call me Pride."_

"Second: What are you?"

"_I am… a homunculus. A monster, if you will."_

"Great. Third: What do you want from me?"

Pride smirked, _"I came to offer you a chance to escape."_

"Oh? And what do you want in return? A philosopher's stone?"

"_Let's just say… I will collect my fee when it is due."_

"That sounds ominous."

"_What would you do if you were free, young Elric?"_

"I guess I would escape to Drachma. Then, I'll research a way to return my sister to normal, since I didn't plan for her to end up this bad, and how to get my real heart back because this one _hurts like shit_. Might as well fixed what you've fucked-up, you know."

"_Indeed."_

"Then, after that, I would plan to never see her ever again. I might visit some old friends in Liore, but after I fixed some of the bigger stuff I screwed over, I would just focus on earning a lot of money, and spending my time researching obscure alchemy theories in isolation."

"_How very selfish of you."_

"Selfish? Yeah. I don't got any noble cause, if that's what you're looking for. After I'd fix my sister, I would just be in it for me."

"_Incidentally, do you think you would have ended up in this situation if your father had not died?"_

The young man paused, another painful expression crossing his features. "No. No. Definitely not. From what I remember of the time when he was there, it would have been… so different." Then, suddenly he realized the implications of what Pride had said, "Hey, wait a second. You said, 'died.' No one knows if he's actually dead. He might have just left. What makes you assume that he's dead?"

"_I assume nothing," _Pride said, smirking a little. _"You know, you look a lot like him."_

"Oh, you knew him too? Great. Everyone who knew my Dad says I look exactly like him. I don't know the first thing about him, though he seemed okay in my earlier memories." By now, the boy was not in a fighting stance, but rather was standing tensely, looking Pride in its eyes.

"_Oh? You know nothing about him?"_

"No, although he was apparently rather significant 'cuz Truth said something about him. I just heard that he was a decent guy, couldn't do alchemy to save his life, and used to work for the military. What's so special about that?"

Pride smiled again, _"Well. You don't know much. How surprising it is that you are this ignorant."_

"Ignorant? Fuck you!"

"_And how did you learn about the philosopher's stone?"_

"I got a forbidden alchemy text."

"_Oh? You didn't learn about it from a closer source?"_

"Closer source? You mean my uncle, the hotshot alchemist? Nah, he wouldn't touch that forbidden alchemy with a ten-foot-pole."

"_Interesting," _Pride murmured,_ " Well, Elric, will you accept my offer? Do you want to escape? I will talk about the fee and my reason for offering… later."_

"I would rather know what I'll have to pay later."

"_What choice do you have?"_

The young man sat down on his bed, and sighed, and said, "I guess… none. Fine. I'll accept. But I can't escape now."

"_Oh?"_

"I need to arrange things on the outside first, contact a friend who can get me out of the country. Return in a week and… I'll escape then."

"_Excellent."_

The shadow withdrew slowly from his room, until it was completely bright again, making him wonder if it had ever been there at all.

* * *

**So there you go. A tragic version of what happens to the Elric family in the picture at the end of the Brotherhood series. Ed disappears, most likely dead. Winry dies. The son grows up to be a (literally) heartless jerk who performs human transmutation, and later joins up with Pride. The daughter loses her legs and her soul is shattered.**

**If I was to continue this story, I might chart out some sort of change, atonement, and redemption for Ed's son. I've considered it. Or, I might just allow him to become a villain and watch his dig his own grave. I may or may not continue this, though. Your response will determine if I do.**

**If you think that this is the worst story ever, and you want to flame me harder than Roy did to Envy (terrible pun, I know), please review and tell me. If you really wants to see how I imagine this story progressing and ending (yes, I've already thought of a potential ending) please review and tell me to continue. If you read this story and think, "I JUST GOT A BRILLIANT IDEA ABOUT HOW TO CONTINUE THIS STORY!" please review and tell me so. If I like your idea, I'll give you the story to finish yourself.**** Though I seriously, _seriously _doubt anyone would want this story.**

**Regardless of what you think, thank you for taking your time to read this! All responses are appreciated!**

**Well, I realize that wasn't the best, but I hope you enjoyed it! In some way, shape, or form. I just had to get the idea off my mind. Please tell me what you think.**


	2. Visitors and some backstory

**Well, believe it or not, it's another update.**

**Shocking, I know.**

**This story has not received a lot of attention. However, I expected as much. I mean, I understand that people read fanfiction because they want to read more about their favorite characters, not OC's unless they're really well developed. Also, who wants to read a fic about how the Elric family descends again into tragedy after all Ed and Al did to reverse their own? Who wants to read a fic where one of Ed's kids grows up to be a bad guy (Well, _you, _obviously, since you've gotten as far as chapter 2.**

**However, despite this story not getting a lot of attention, I stubbornly update it. Why? Because I feel like it can do better.**

**Thank you, MadnessistheMurderer and RideroftheNosse for reviewing. Your support is greatly appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Visitors and some Backstory

Roy Mustang visited the boy again the next day. He felt that it was his obligation to what he could for the Elric family, and so he ended up speaking to him again.

The boy was in relatively good condition, all things considered. However, he clearly hadn't slept the night before, as there were dark circles under his eyes.

"I have sent someone to Xing to contact your uncle, Alphonse Elric," Roy told him. "He'll probably arrive in two months or so."

The boy blinked. Even though he had lost some sleep the night before, his face was still scowling as hard as the day before. "Excuse me? Why the fuck did you contact my uncle?"

"A responsible adult relative needs to be informed of the situation. I am certain that he will understand and sympathize with your situation as much as is possible."

"Sympathize? Like hell, he'll sympathize," the boy said, not in a flaming rage about it but clearly dissatisfied.

Mustang considered for a brief moment relating that Alphonse himself had performed human transmutation, but decided that if Winry, Ed, and Al hadn't told the boy, then he wouldn't break that silence. He would let Alphonse relate his story.

"I think your uncle will understand you more than you think."

The boy sighed, and his frown deepened. "What gives you the right to intervene in my… oh, right, you're the Fuhrer. You can do whatever the fuck you please. '_Why' _is the question I was thinking of, I guess."

Mustang didn't realize this was an actual question for a while, until the boy snapped in obvious annoyance, "Well, _why?"_

"I owe it to your father, I suppose," Mustang replied, not allowing himself to be affected by the boy's temper.

"Oh. My _father. _I've been hearing him mentioned a bit," the boy said contemptuously. "What, how'd you know him?"

"He was one of my subordinates,"

"Well, everyone in the military's your fucking subordinate."

"He was my subordinate when I was a Colonel."

"Oh?"

Mustang could see that the boy wanted to know more, but didn't want to give Mustang the satisfaction of showing his curiosity. A smirk formed across the Fuhrer's face.

"What are you smiling about, Fuhrer Bastard?"

Fuhrer Bastard. Colonel Bastard. At that comment, Roy actually laughed, heartily. He looked across the the table after he had finished laughing to see the boy's eyes wide in complete shock at this reaction. Then, his expression snapped back to barely concealed rage. "What the fuck do you find so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing. You don't know a lot about your father do you?"

"What's there to know?"

Roy Mustang wondered what he should say to the kid about his father.

"Your father," Roy began, "Was insufferable. He was short for a large duration of his youth, and snapped violent the second anyone pointed this out to him. His social skills were seriously lacking, and his temper was nonexistent. So many times he endangered himself and others through sheer idiocy. Oh, and he was an absolute genius, by the way. He was a fury when fighting, and yet remarkable in his mercy. He would have sacrificed his entire being to protect those close to him; he _did _risk life and limb for them on numerous occasions. He was arrogant, ridiculously proud, yet he understood that he was only human and that he could only do so much. He was a hero."

The boy sighed in exasperation, "You haven't told me anything. My Mom told me all that vague stuff about how wonderful he was. What exactly did he do?"

"Just saved Amestris from total destruction."

The boy's mouth opened, "What?"

"Him and a few others. Why don't you ask your uncle for the whole story when he arrives?"

"Why don't you tell me? As in, right fucking now."

"I believe that your uncle would be better off telling the story. After all, he was a part of it."

"And you weren't?"

"I was. But he's your family."

The boy's face twitched, "My _family. _Fuck. He was too busy being a hotshot alchemist over in Xing and Creta and wherever else to take us in when they said we couldn't stay with Mom anymore. No one could find the miserable bastard and tell him that we needed someone to take care of us. If you can find him now, then I gotta hand it to you. But I don't give a shit about _Uncle Al."_

Roy put his hands together and easily leaned forward against the table a bit. It was a simple gesture, one that basically said, I'm open; I'm interested in what you have to say. Thus trying to establish some kind of trust with the young boy, he said, "Tell me about Winry—your mother—what did she die of? Why couldn't you stay with her?"

The boy drew himself up further; Roy was reminded of a cobra coiling. His eyes narrowed, and he looked Mustang over, as though examining his facial expressions and posture. Then, after a few minutes of carefully weighing his answer, he said, "Fuck no."

Mustang sighed, "What harm could it possibly do?"

"I said, 'Fuck no.' And 'Fuck no' means '_Fuck_ no.' Why should I? It's my goddamn life's story. I don't want to spread it to every bastard that asks." Then, the boy's eyes gleamed maliciously, and he said mockingly, "Oh, I know, why don't you ask my _Uncle Al _to tell you everything that happened? _He _should be able to explain it well enough."

"You want me to tell you things about your father, but you won't give information yourself? That's hardly equivalent exchange."

"You mean that you'll tell me shit about my Dad if I tell you shit about my childhood?"

"Well..."

"No, you won't. I see that look on your face and don't you lie, you bastard. You don't want to tell me, for whatever reason. Well, I don't want to tell my life's story for whatever shitty reasons I have. "

Mustang mused aloud, "Has it occurred to you that more respect towards the Fuhrer might earn you a sentence?"

"Respect? I'm not in the mood. Just sentence me already. I know that the government doesn't forgive this taboo. If people who transmute gold are imprisoned for life, then I can only imagine what you bastards do to fuckers who try their hand at human transmutation." The boy's eyebrows furrowed more, as though he was thinking hard, "Though, undoubtedly, you managed to cover your own ass rather nicely, considering you're the Fuhrer and clearly you didn't get court martialed for it."

"Is that what you think?"

"I _heard _you _clap. _And I know what that means."

Roy leaned forward again, "And I saw your _sister _clap. And transmute. Don't you think I know what that means?"

The boy's mouth opened, but nothing came out.

"Wouldn't you say that's a guarantee that she was an equal partner in the transmutation?"

He saw the boy's eyes gleam with hate for a moment, but then he said, "No."

"No? But you said yourself that clapping transmutation is a surefire sign of it. Did you and your sister perform the transmutation together? Are you trying to shield her?"

The boy was quiet, and his eyes narrowed in thought. Roy could practically sense the mind working behind his features. The boy finally said, "I _told_ you she didn't. That was the truth. I don't know how she can perform a clapping transmutation. However, since I dragged her through the gate, I guess that she got to see it as well, even if she didn't choose it." The boy leaned back in his chair, "I have no idea where the fuck you got the idea I might be protecting her. I hate the bitch. I don't consider her a sister. If you don't believe me, ask anyone who knows us. Mrs. Rose from Liore should give you a pretty good idea of our mutual disgust for one another, if you need someone to testify. Or her kid."

"Why? Why do you hate your sister?"

"None of your fucking business. That's personal, that shit. I will merely reiterate that I fucking hate every bone in her body that she has left. If you're so eager to throw a seventeen year old girl into prison, or send her to the firing squad, when she's already lost both legs and most of her soul, then fine. Fuck. I won't object."

Mustang said emphatically, "I am not trying to put Mina in prison. I only want to know the truth of the situation."

"The truth? The truth is that I tried to use human transmutation, and I fucked up. My _sister _was an unwilling participant. I say that because it's the truth, not because I give a rat's ass what happens to her. Happy?"

"Then why did she fix up your arm and leg?"

"Fuck if I know."

"Well, if your sister can clap-transmute without having willingly performed human sacrifice, then isn't it possible that the same is true for someone else? And if that person did not get sentenced, then in all likelihood your sister won't."

The boy realized the significance of this statement, and he narrowed his eyes at the Fuhrer. "Smooth bastard," he mumbled under his breath. "Fine. Whatever you say. Forget I said anything about you clapping or performing human transmutation."

There was a long pause. Roy asked, "Are you sure there is no one you want to contact?"

"Actually, yeah. I think… there are… people in Liore who at least," the boy stopped, and clenched his jaw tighter, "Who at least deserve to get a letter saying I won't be coming back."

Mustang nodded, "Understandable. Tell me their names and addresses and they will receive formal letters informing them of your arrest."

"I want to write them a letter myself."

"Oh? I hardly think that's necessary."

The boy's eyes flashed, "What?"

"It is not necessary for you to write a letter to them. I will send them the information."

The boy snarled, but then gained control of himself and asked, "It's my fucking right to be able to write them a letter!"

"No, you have the right to a phone call."

"Fuck. You." The boy said through gritted teeth.

"I will allow you to write a letter yourself, provided that you answer questions more cooperatively. Of course, I will check all of the letters to make sure you have not encoded a secret message to anyone. But before we get to that, I want you to give me a full, detailed account of everything that happened. Not these vague things you have been saying, everything, step by step."

The boy closed his eyes, considering the deal, "Fine. Fine. I'll do it. Where should I start?"

"Wait a moment. I'll get a stenographer in here to record the details."

Roy gestured to one of the guards, who came back in with a woman with the appropriate materials. The boy flicked his eyes towards her in annoyance for a moment, irritated that another person would be hearing this story.

"Start with who you were trying to bring back to life," Roy Mustang ordered.

He saw the boy clench his fists before responding. "Three people: my mother, a friend…or more of an acquaintance who got killed when someone was attacking me, and the guy who attacked. I killed the last guy, by the way."

"You tried to bring not one, but _three _people back to life? Are you insane?"

"No. And fuck you."

"Why? Your mother I could understand, but those others?"

"I didn't perform human transmutation because I couldn't live without my Mom. True, I'd miss her, but I would have been able to live without her. And those other guys didn't really mean anything to me, except that I thought they shouldn't have died. But, you know, when I was attacked, and my companion died, and I almost died, and I killed him, and then I found out my mother died a few days later I just… I just…" the boy let out a cry of frustration, "I don't_ fucking_ know how to explain it! I thought I could stop all of it! I had power! I wanted to do something right! I wanted to reverse death, at least… you know what? Fuck that shit. I did what I did. It doesn't matter what goddamn, shitty illusions I had."

The boy's face was twisted in agony. Mustang, in spite of himself, felt the sudden need to say something almost comforting, "Mistakes can be reversed, in time. Just keep that in mind. Now, tell me how you went about this."

"I… I…don't want to…Alright, fine." Although he was clearly having trouble recounting the memory, he sucked in a breath and resumed his usual arrogant expression, "I stole the bodies, and I took them to Liore. I was just starting when I suddenly realized that it wouldn't be enough…energy. And then. It rebounded." His sentences became hesitated and choppy, "And I... and Mina walked in. And, since I knew that. It was going to take a. Really impossible toll I…I dragged her in. Threw her there. Against her will." He was frowning furiously, gritting his teeth, and avoiding Mustang's eyes.

"Why would you do something like that to your blood sibling?"

"Don't ask fucking why," he said. "Next, I saw the gate."

"What did the gate tell you?"

"A lot of shit. I think you know what I mean. Tons of knowledge. Um, and the being Truth said something about family history. Still don't know what he meant. Fucker said, 'Oh, you look like your Dad.' And then he plucked my limbs off and was like, 'And now you look even _more_ like your Dad.' And I woke up. Someone had attached automail, my sister I guess, although I don't know how or why. She said, 'Brother' before she passed out, so I was surprised when I found out…that she had lost her soul… yeah…"

"And then what happened?"

"I saw… the thing I created. It was like…the three people fused together and it was…" he gulped, "_Moving. _Alive. Somehow. I…" he winced, "It reached out to me. And I… crawled away to a cabinet, and I took out a gun and I… well, it wasn't human, so I guess I didn't kill it. But… I stopped its moving."

Mustang was horrified.

"Afterwards, I was all… torn up over it. Uh, yeah, there was a lot of noise. I managed to stop Mina's bleeding with alchemy, but the neighbors barged in and ran out screaming and bringing back a fucking mob. I had to go on the run. For a few days, actually. Then, you came along. So there. You got the story. Happy? Now don't ask me again."

"Of course."

The young man took a breath, and asked in his contemptuous voice, "Can I write now?"

"Of course," Mustang said.

He arranged for the boy to write, with one hand handcuffed to the chair and a guard hovering over him to prevent him from transmuting. The boy asked what number he should give the people so that they could hear more of the situation; Mustang told him Riza's office number. He did note one thing; the boy spent most of his time on one particular letter to someone named, 'Thomas.'

After he had written maybe ten letters, he said he was done and they took him back to his cell.

* * *

A week or so later, Riza received a call from a young, tremulous female voice.

"Hello? I received a letter from someone saying that my friend, Wilhelmina Elric, is at a hospital in Central? They said that the person I spoke to on this number would be able to tell me more."

Riza immediately sat up, "You're a friend of the Elrics?"

"I'm a friend of Mina. Umm, my name's Mary Winter. Please… is she okay?"

Riza sighed, "No. I am afraid that's she's in a bad state. Where are you calling from?"

"I'm… I'm in Rush Valley. Just… please tell me how bad she is."

"She's unresponsive, almost comatose."

Riza heard a whimper on the other side of the line, "Oh my god. Please… can I come see her?And… and there are probably some other people who'll want to come…"

"Yes, of course."

* * *

The girl, Mary Winter, arrived with one other person, a young dark-skinned young man who followed her silently. Apparently, their whole family had come, but these two wanted to see Mina first, by themselves. They visited Mina in the hospital. Upon seeing her, Mary burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably. The dark skinned boy held her, and absorbed her tears while staring at Mina with a sympathetic look of his own. Riza and Roy, who attended, watch the scene quietly.

"Sh-she didn't deserve this. Really, she didn't. How… did she try human transmutation? No, no, she would never do that," Mary mumbled to herself.

"We are still trying to piece together what happened, but it seems as though she did not perform human transmutation… but was involved against her will. Her brother did the transmutation, as it seems. We would like you to answer some questions "

The dark haired boy pressed his lips together, and looked at the floor.

"Can I… visit him, as well?" Mary asked, "There are some things I… I need to talk to him about."

* * *

When the young Elric boy was brought out of his cell to speak to Mary, he seemed even more irritated and exhausted than the last time he had been brought out, as though he hadn't slept a wink since the last time Mustang had seen him. However, the expression on his face was as unpleasant as ever, except that when he saw Mary sitting across the table from him, his eyes widened.

"I didn't think you'd want to come see me," he admitted to the girl, not turning his eyes away.

"You thought wrong," Mary told him. She got up from her chair, and before any of the guards knew what was going on she had launched herself at the boy and was brutally punching him across the face until he was bleeding.

The boy didn't flinch. Riza ran and pulled the girl away from him, restraining her. The second that Riza touched the girl's arm, she realized that it was made of automail, which explained how she was able to get the boy to bleed so fast.

Mary didn't struggle violently against Riza, but cried out, "He's a monster! Look what he did to Mina!"

The boy, although his hands were cuffed, managed to stand up from where he had fallen on the floor.

"Control yourself! No matter what he's done, what you're doing is assault!" Riza told the girl.

"But he… but he…"

"He will receive whatever sentence the courts deem appropriate, but it is not your place to dole out that punishment."

The girl screamed at the boy, "You monster! How could you do that to you own sister?"

The boy just blinked slowly. "'Monster'?" he asked, "Is that really the best you can think of, considering that I practically put your best friend in a coma?"

"You bastard!"

"My parents were married, actually. Yours, on the other hand…"

"She… she was a good person! She spent all her time looking for ways to help people, to heal them, to give them legs and arms to replace the ones they had lost! She used her alchemy to save lives."

"You sound like you're eulogizing her."

"Shut up, murderer!"

"She's not dead yet."

Tears were flowing down Mary's cheeks, again. "She was so wonderful, and you're just a monster! How…? Why is she so hurt, and you're still standing and talking? How is that supposed to be fair? How is that supposed to be equivalent?"

The boy said nothing.

"She has friends, people who love her for what's she's done, people that are going to heartbroken like I am to see her like that. Who do you have? Nobody! How could you take her away from all of us? How could you use someone who had saved lives as some kind of sacrifice in human transmutation? And all just because you wanted to play god! Because you were jealous of her, isn't that it?"

"Jealous?" he asked, genuine confusion crossing his frowning face.

"Because everyone loved her, but you're just disgusting!"

"Jealous of her for having abject and pathetically adoring 'friends' such as yourself? Fuck no."

Mary tore from Riza's grip at the last insult and launched herself at the boy again. This time, he caught her fist with one handcuffed hand.

"Wh-what?" Mary rasped, perplexed.

"I have automail too, now, bitch," he said, and he thrust the girl's fist away. "And yes, it's Mina's. Don't mess with what you don't understand. Now, somebody go lock me back up in my cage or something. I'm really fucking tired of this melodramatic shit."

The guards obliged, and the blond hair boy was escorted out of the room, leaving a distraught Mary behind.

* * *

Later, Mary agreed to answer Mustang's questions.

"So, Mary Winter is your name?" he asked.

"Umm, yes," she said, "Are you… the Fuhrer?"

"Yes," and seeing her shift uncomfortably, "Don't be alarmed. Mina's father was a comrade of mine a long time ago, and I am simply surprised to find out he disappeared. Now, I want to do what I can to help his children."

Mary breathed, "I understand. I'm sorry for… behaving as I did when I saw him today."

"It's perfectly understandable that you would be upset, considering the circumstances, but you should demonstrate more control."

"I know, I know," the distraught girl said. "It's just… he's such a… a…" she gulped, "Alright. I'm sorry."

"I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about both of them."

"Sure… what do you need to know?"

"Well, to start out with, the boy hasn't told me his name. I believe that I should know at least that much information."

Mary blinked, "Um, actually I… I don't know."

"What?"

"Mina never really talked about him, except for once."

"_Aww man, Michael's never going to let me hear the end of this! He's going to make fun of me until I die!"_

_Mina Elric looked back at he, curiously, "Who's Michael? Your boyfriend?"_

"_N-no! He's my older brother. He's such a pain, too."_

_Mina smiled half-heartedly, "I guess it must be true of all older brothers."_

"_What? You have one too? You never mentioned him."_

_Mina pursed her lips and looked away, "I'd really prefer to talk about him as little as possible" _

"He must have been really bad, because Mina never hated anyone except for him."

"Interesting. So you don't know his name?"

"No. The guy that came with me, he probably knows 'cuz he's been friends with both of them since they were kids."

"Can you tell me why Mina disliked her brother?"

"I don't know all the details, because besides that one time, she never really talked about it. But he must have been super-evil to get Mina to hate him. Mina was always to kind to everybody. Apparently, he was really mean to all the kids at school, and didn't have any friends even when he was, like, still little."

"Can you tell me anything else?"

"Well, there was one thing specifically that Mina said she would never forgive him for. You see, they were on this island. They had to survive on their own as part of their alchemy training. There was this native islander who beat them up, and after one of the attacks…"

"_Mina," he said coldly, "I'm leaving."_

"_What? You're giving up alchemy training?"_

"_No. I'm leaving… you."_

"_Wh-what? What are you talking about?"_

"_I'm going to the other side of the island. I can get my own food."_

"_You're… leaving?" Mina looked up at her brother's golden eyes. She thought that it must be some kind of joke, that he would laugh in a second and say something about the priceless look on her face that she knew she must have right now. But before she knew it, he was walking away._

"_No! Stop! What are you doing?" before she knew it she had run after her brother, her brother whom she always disliked but whom she had always thought she could rely on in times like this._

"_Yeah. I can. What are you going to do, follow me? I'll run, and you know I'm a faster runner than you."_

"_What are you saying?" she clutched his arm, "Don't leave me, I'm scared! I'm scared! I don't want to be alone! You're my brother; don't…"_

"_Shut up! You want me to do everything for you because your bully-friends aren't here to? You want me to stay with you? But you said you hate me! You said that you wouldn't care if I disappeared and didn't come back!"_

"_B-but… I'm scared now… Br-brother… I'm hungry….and tired… I don't like the dark, I don't like the scary man… I'm afraid…" Her brother's face was still mean, "I want you with me… please."_

_For a moment, the mean look melted off her brother's face, and his lip trembled. But then, he regained his coldness. "Liar. Scaredy cat. You just want everyone to do everything for you. I'm not falling for it."_

"_No! No!" She grabbed his arm harder, "Don't leave!"_

_He gave a ferocious shove; Mina fell on the ground. "Shut up! You're annoying me!" And with that, he ran off._

"_No… Brother! Come back! Don't leave me! I'm… I'm…"_

_But before she could even stand up again, her brother had run off into the forest. Mina screamed and wailed, feeling the tears ran down her face. _

Mary continued, "She had to survive all by herself on an island with a vicious savage when she was five! And her brother refused to help her! She was practically _crying _when she told me about it! And she never, ever cries. Ever."

Roy remembered Ed telling him about a similar experience with when he was learning alchemy. His teacher had stranded him and Alphonse on an island and told them to survive while trying to find meaning to the phrase "All is One, One is All." Except Ed's son had left his five year old sister when they were stranded on the island together. Ouch. Ed would _never _have done that to Alphonse. Never. Splitting up had not crossed either of their minds when they were in a similar predicament.

But before he could finish his thoughts, Mary was again relating the story of the Elric children, "So, when they finished the first phase of their alchemy training with their teacher, they were like ten and eleven, they went separate ways. Mina studied automail and medical science and alkahestry in schools, so that she could use her alchemy to help people. But her brother, apparently, started to research forbidden alchemy. Oh, and he became some kind of thug, since he apparently killed some people"

"…_Can you ever actually pass a stupid course, _Brother?" _she spat at him, "This is the third class you've failed."_

"_I don't give a damn about this class. It's stupid. Who the heck needs to study ethics, anyway? Why is it a prerequisite to Chimera Studies? It's dumb. It's too slow. And the stupid teacher keeps yelling time I talk about human transmutation."_

"_Well, that's 'cuz it's a crime, stupid." _

"_But he never tells me _why. _It's really, really stupid. I mean, what the heck's wrong with wanting to bring the people you love back? If the only person you can hurt is yourself, then why the hell is it a crime? I mean, isn't it supposed to be noble, risking your life to bring back someone you love? Still, all the stupid guy does is yell at me about god and dock my grade every time I argue."_

"_What are you talking about? You don't love anyone. You don't have anyone you'd risk your life for. You just like it because it's forbidden."_

"_Know what? To hell with this this. I'm dropping out. I want to learn real medical alchemy, not all this bullshit they're teaching us. I don't want to waste my time with stupid things like school when I could actually be learning."_

"_You'll just be a bum drop-out! Everyone is going to laugh in your face and call you a nobody!"_

"_So? I don't care. You can bask in their adoration if you like. Have fun with teachers groveling at your feet every time you answer a question correct."_

"_SHUT UP!" _

"I don't know the whole story," Mary admitted, "You should ask Ed."

Roy started at the name, "'Ed?'"

"Yeah. Edward Thomas. The guy who came with me. Like I said, he knows more about her brother than I do."

"Alright. Thank you for your time, Ms. Winter. I believe I would like to speak to… Edward."

"Yeah. He's… he's waiting for me outside, I think."

* * *

Edward Thomas was an easy-going young man, about the age of Ed's son. He leaned back easily in his chair and had a pleasant smile on his face. His features were a mix of Lioran and Central Amestrian, with his medium dark skin tone, dark-chocolate hair, and lavender eyes. Mustang felt that the young man looked familiar, but could not quite place where he had seen him.

"Pleasure to meet you, Fuhrer, sir," 'Edward' said.

"Likewise," Mustang responded. Now, where had he seen this young man before? Or had he seen his relative? Suddenly, he remembered the image of a dark-skinned girl with lavender eyes and pink bangs. "Your mother was… a friend of the Elrics. From Liore."

"Yes, sir! That's right. Rose Thomas."

"I remember her… slightly. I used to be acquainted with Edward Elric, you see."

"Oh, that's why you're taking personal interest in Mina and her brother right now."

"Yes. By the way, the boy has refused to tell me his name. It would be very helpful if I could refer to him by his name."

"Hmm, he hasn't told you?"

"No."

'Edward' sighed, "He can be stubborn that way. But you know, if I tell you, and you call him by his name, then he'll figure out someone close to him told his name and he'll probably figure out I did it. And then, he'll be mad as hell. So, seeing as I don't want to ruin any possibility of a conversation with him in the future, I'd rather not give any information that he wouldn't want you to know."

"I understand, but that could be counted as concealing evidence."

Thomas grinned at this, as though enjoying the challenge, "No. I have the right to remain silent, until I am formally summoned to court. And you'll have to fill out some paperwork before you can do that. When we reach that point, I tell you anything, but for now I would rather be able to say I did my best to keep my mouth shut. Although, I will say that you could probably find the names of both Mina and her brother in the official records for child protective services. They probably would have been listed when the authorities declared their mother unable to take care of them."

Mustang felt a pang. Again, tragedy in the lives of people who a while ago he thought had been assured a happy ending. "Why was she deemed… unfit?"

"Well, I think it had something to do with the fact that she lost a lot of mobility from the illness and simply was not able to work on automail anymore. And when Great-great Aunt Pinako died, there wasn't much she could do to support them. So, someone noticed and called child protective services. Then, when it was a choice between either letting them go to an orphanage or letting them go to a friend, she sent them to their dad's alchemy teacher. Apparently their Dad had gone away to be trained at the same age, so she decided that that was the best."

"I see. I wish I had known at the time."

"But it turned out to be okay. I mean, both of them became awesome alchemists, and they ended up traveling around and learning lots of stuff. Neither of them decided to apply to the military, though, 'cuz they were really young and wanted to do their own thing. They visited us in Liore every other month."

"What was the relationship like between the two siblings?"

"Well, they always kind of disliked each other when they were little. They were always trying to prove who was better, I think. But, uh, when they were thirteen it got a helluva lot worse."

"How?"

"Well…"

"_Mina ,I need to talk to you in private," her brother said, his brows furrowed in what seemed to be a mixture of confusion and worry._

_She was surprised; It had been so long since they talked. She wondered what this would be about, though she knew that it had to be something selfish if he was so worried about it. They went to an empty room, away from Ms. Rose. _

"_Why haven't you visited Mom?" he asked. _

_Mina was too surprised to answer. She stared at him, openmouthed. This was what had him so worried?_

_He shuffled uncomfortably, "I mean, I can understand that you don't want to visit her while I'm there. I get that shit. But you could go see her at a different time. Or, if it's really inconvenient, I can change the times I go there. But you really need to see her."_

"_Why?" Mina was surprised at the coldness of her own voice._

"_She's not well! She misses you a lot! She's sad. Dad's gone, Pinako's gone, Ms. Rose can hardly visit her, and she's just all alone, all of the time. And now you won't come to see her. What's the matter with you? She loves you, you know."_

"_What if I don't want to go all the way up to Risembool just to hear her babble on about Dad and Uncle and Automail?" Mina snapped. "I have a much better time here in Rush Valley."_

_Her brother's expression dropped into one of complete vulnerability and surprise. Mina relished the moment; it was so rare to see her brother's face like this, when he looked like a normal person instead of a yellow-eyed arrogant devil, when he seemed almost…aghast._

"_How could you say that? She's your mother! Maybe you have a better time with your stupid, groveling admirers, but you should at least visit her every now and then. I mean," his hands were tense, uselessly gesturing in an attempt to wring sympathy from her, "She's been abandoned by everyone! Everyone in her life has just… left and gone off or died, when they promised they would come back. Why… why would you abandon her after she's been abandoned by everyone else?"_

"_Abandon her?" Mina asked, "You have no right to talk about abandoning people! Not after leaving me on that island! Why the hell should I listen to anything you say? Huh?"_

_He was shocked, "You're still so upset about that?" he asked, "I don't get you. One minute you're all, 'I hate your guts and want you to disappear' and the next you're like, 'How dare you leave me?' What the hell? Make up your mind! Are you just going to snub Mom because you want to get back at me for that?"_

"_Why shouldn't I? You and Mom are just _annoying!"

"_You little _BITCH!"

"_DON'T CALL ME LITTLE YOU DICK!" and before she knew it she was beating him with a wrench. _

Edward Thomas continued, "So… I walked in on that fight. Mina was really pissed off, and he was all bloody. I don't think he was trying to fight her. I mean, normally he can take down guys really fast, but he was definitely holding back, I think because he wanted Mina to visit their mom without bruises. Oh, there was blood. Lots of it. That was the first time I saw them fight. It was really stupid, too, because Mina actually did go to visit Mrs. Elric shortly after that. She just didn't want her brother thinking she did."

Mustang sighed.

"So after that fight, they couldn't be in the same room without criticizing each other, tearing down the other's accomplishments, and stuff like that. But then, it _really _got bad when Mina had just turned fourteen, and he was fifteen. Apparently they had some really huge fight and both of them crossed the line. I never found out what the fight was about. After that, they could be in the same city limits, much less the same room, without things being junked and one of them ending up injured."

"So…"

"So, they didn't see each other for a long time. And then…just two months ago… Mrs. Elric died. And… for some reason…Mina wouldn't allow her brother to come to the funeral. Apparently, he had killed someone recently. I'm pretty sure it was self-defense, but it was the kid of nice old guy Mina knew. And so, she refused to let him come to the funeral."

"_Let me in! That's my mother they're burying!"_

"_No, young sir, I'm afraid Ms. Elric has specifically requested us to keep you out of the funeral."_

"_But… but… that's my mother!"_

"_I'm afraid that if you do not leave now, we'll have to use force."_

"_Mina! Mina!"_

_Mina gave him one look. Somehow, from that one look, he completely understood her mindset. He drew himself up with a kind of wrathful dignity. His face had that same contemptuous frown as always. Without another word, he turned and walked away._

Thomas continued, "I thought he took it really well, at the time. He was all calm about it. But then, uhhhhh, when Mrs. Elric's grave was dug up a month later, I realized he had seriously seriously flipped his shit. I figured he was going to try human transmutation. So Mina and I went looking for him… we split up at some point and then…and then… this." Thomas's face was mournful.

"Do you think that he used his sister as fuel for the transmutation?"

Thomas looked at him and gaped, "Is that what they told you? No. Never. He wouldn't have. He… wouldn't go so far. It's against his character."

"But Mina did not desire to perform human transmutation, and so he must have either persuaded or coerced her," Mustang said. "And he said himself that that's what he did."

"I-I'm certain that there's more to the truth than that," Edward Thomas said, looking away. "Just… don't judge him too hard. Don't have him executed. Or Mina, for that matter, since you think she might have been 'persuaded.' She wasn't . I mean, you don't know them. You don't know all the details. Please, just keep that in mind," his lavender eyes were pleading with him, pleading for his friends.

* * *

Edward Thomas visited the Elric boy next.

"Hey, Thomas," the blond boy said indifferently.

"You can call me Ed, you know. Everyone else does."

"Fuck that. 'Ed' was my _father's _name. It's fucking creepy that your Mom named that. Especially since my Mom used to talk about 'Ed' all the time. I'm sick of all the wrong faces popping in my head when I hear that name."

"I think that my Mom just liked the sound of the name," Thomas said.

"Whatever. Still creepy."

Thomas grinned in that easy-going way of his, "Mary did quite a number on you."

The blond replied, "Yeah. Her automail's no joke."

"You got beat up by a girl."

"Fuck you, I was handcuffed. And besides, I'd probably get shot if I retaliated to anything here."

Thomas asked, "Why did you send her the letter? You must've known she'd flip out."

"It's her best friend. She deserves to know."

"Does she know that you're the one who sent the letter?"

"Nah. She probably thinks I'm an illiterate thug and Mina's the genius of the family. I doubt it'll ever occur to her that I know the alphabet."

There was a moment of silence.

"So, you _got _my letter?" the blond boy asked.

"Yeah, I _got _it,' Thomas confirmed.

There was a moment of silence, and a satisfied smirk spread over the blond's face. "Excelllent. So of course, _Rose _knows what happened and will probably want to chew me out."

"She's in central at the moment for that very purpose."

"And… you have all the _family photos _that I asked about?"

"Yes."

"Mina's, as well?"

"Of course."

"And you will be able to _navigate _your way around Central in the next few days?"

"Yes. I have a map."

"Perfect."

* * *

"I have just heard a bit about you and your sister," Roy Mustang said to the Elric boy. "So, you abandoned your sister when you were both on an island?" Roy Mustang

"Well, why not? We didn't like each other; actually, that's an understatement. We hated each other's guts. We were both capable of taking care of ourselves, and so I thought, why not? Besides, there was that island fucker. Scary bastard. But there was only _one _of him, after all. And we couldn't beat him together. But he could only come after one of us if we were on opposite sides of the island. That way, I figured we would both have a better chance of surviving."

"Is that really the reason, or just an excuse?"

"I don't make excuses. It was beneficial for both of us. Not that I fucking cared what happened to her. But why the _fuck _are you interrogating me about my six-year-old sibling rivalry stuff when I'm in prison for human transmutation? How is that supposed to make sense?"

Mustang ignored his question and asked another of his own, "And apparently, you two were estranged and couldn't be in the same room without fighting."

"Yeah. So?"

Mustang sighed, "This clearly will go straight over your ignorant head, but try to understand. You children were meant to be happy. Your father, mother, and uncle all worked hard to make you children blessed and free of the worries that dogged their lives. You clearly inherited their talents; you were meant to be free of their curses. Today, I look at you and your sister, and I see every blessing they work for gone to waste, and the things they had tried to fix broken again. Do you understand?"

The young boy looked him in the eyes for a second, and then closed his eyes slowly in that contemptuous gesture of his.

"I only want you to know that one can always fix one's mistakes. If you are worth anything near what your father was, then you'll work to fix your mistakes until all is mended."

"How am I supposed to try to fix anything," the boy said, "When I'm locked up in a fucking prison?"

"That, we will discuss with your uncle when he gets here."

"If he gets here, you mean."

"He'll come; I assure you, he'll come. I know Alphonse Elric," and with that, Mustang walked out of the room.

* * *

**Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed this in some way, reader. Please Review and tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, and what you think I could do to improve it.**

**I am certain that you all think that Ed's son is a monster by now. Maybe he is. We'll see how he turns out in later chapters. What do you think of Mina Elric, by the way? You only got to see how she acted around her brother, so you only see half of her personality. Most of the time, she was cheerful, kind, and courteous to everyone. With her brother, she had to develop a bit of an edge because... well, because he is what he is.**

**Next chapter will be a flashback to when Edward Elric left, and why he never returned.**

**Thank you for your time.**


	3. Family photos

**Alright, here's the next chapter for the few and very much appreciated people who are following this. I actually think this might be the best chapter yet, even though I got lazy at one point in the middle (I wonder if any of you will notice where...)**

**Extra special thanks to ColdFlame96 for giving me opinions on the first draft of this story. You're awesome.**

**And also, thank you so much to the others who have reviewed thus far: MadnessistheMurderer, DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympians, and RideroftheNosse. You are all amazing.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Family Photos**

Sixteen years previous to the day his son was arrested for human transmutation, Edward Elric was leading a normal life—no, an ideal life.

It was everything Ed could have wanted, minus alchemy. He kept himself busy working at… well, _everything. _He was the local Renaissance man with a reputation for being able to do any kind of work, be it intellectual or physical. He took trips often enough to learn more about all different subjects from many different places. Winry was happily working in the automail shop. And their children, well…

Edward Elric was glad to see his kids growing up into healthy, precocious children. They both were speaking full sentences at only a year old. At home, he couldn't keep his son contained for a moment; the little toddler was always running and jumping and laughing and playing. The kid had such an enormous curiosity and stubbornness; he often liked to follow his Dad while Ed was working on things around the house. The only exception to his normal energy was when someone else came into the house or when he was in public. Then, he would shrink (adorably) from strangers and clutch the hand of his nearest parent.

Little Mina was the most adorable thing that had ever been born in the universe. He was certain of it. And she easily kept up with her brother, despite being almost a year younger. She was definitely growing up to be far more outgoing with people, although little Al outdid her with unusual energy for a boy his age.

Both of the kids had the habit of doing the most adorable things. The result? Ed and Winry bought a camera.

However, once they began taking pictures, they learned something: their son and daughter were camera shy. Especially their son, who would either pout or run away at the sight of every camera. They managed to get him to smile for the family photo with Alphonse and Mei by having the cameraman make a face (he charged extra) but had trouble when they were photographing on their own.

So, they fell back on sneaking around and trying to catch the kids in the moment. One particular day, they managed to get one that would become one of their favorites. Their older son was jumping through some rocks boisterously, while Mina stumbled and hesitantly crawled over them. Ed was watching them closely as he lounged back by a tree.

"Hurry up, Mina!" called the two-year-old boy. He trudged ahead easily, without even bothering to look back at his younger sibling.

"Bwudder!" Mina called, "Wait fowr meee!"

The little girl stumbled a little bit, and then fell flat on her face on top of the rocks. Ed immediately leaped up to run to his daughter, but his son beat him to it. The little boy pulled his sister off the ground. Mina was soon sobbing hysterically into her brother's shoulder.

Ed stared at the scene for about five seconds, before calling, "WINRY! GET THE CAMERA!"

And so, they took one of their most prized photos of the two kids.

As they got more adept at the art of guerrilla picture-taking, they increased their album of pictures with the two siblings together. They had the siblings playing in the mud, her putting a band-aid on his scraped knee, him brushing her hair…

"They're going to be so close when they're older," Winry said one night as they look through and laughed at the pictures. She pulled out their favorite: the one in which their daughter cried into her brother's chest. "He's going to be a perfect older brother. Just like his Dad."

"Well, I wasn't exactly perfect," Ed said, "But who knows? Maybe he'll turn out okay."

The gave the picture one last look before placing it gently in their photo album

* * *

So, Edward Elric thought that nothing could disrupt this life.

Of course, he turned out to be wrong.

* * *

It was shortly after the kids started attending the new school. Their daughter was three, and their son was four. Mina would come home every day bubbling with energy and gushing about her new friends. Her brother would retreat quietly to his room.

(On a side note, their son _was _becoming dramatically more introverted after his first days of school. A few times, he wouldn't even talk or look people in the eye for hours and hours, not even when someone would ask him a question.)

Besides that, though, everything was normal.

And so, no one thought anything was amiss when Winry started to get paler. Even Edward didn't notice it at first. But then, there would be those days when he would see his wife's eyes get a little out of focus, or she would suddenly be unable to support herself. He first realized there must be something wrong when he found her slumped over her automail work bench, completely still.

"_Winry!"_

The sight of Winry slumped over the bench flashed before him. Without warning, the old memory of his mother collapsed on the floor flashed in his mind. The two images overlapped in his consciousness.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he was at her side, holding her up. His head swam dizzily with fear. He was saying something, babbling without breath or punctuation. It was something along the lines of, _Get up Winry! I can't lose you! _Although he had no idea what it actually sounded like. He carried her hastily to the sofa and laid her down there.

Her eyelids fluttered. Her head turned to him. "Edward… what happened?"

"You… you had collapsed in the workshop."

"Oh… that's right. I suddenly… felt lightheaded. A bunch of colorful dots… I must have fainted." Her face twisted in something between a smirk and embarrassment, "Ugh! How embarrassing!"

Ed was quiet.

"Well," she said, about to get up, "Better get back to work…"

"No, wait."

She looked at him questioningly.

"Winry… you're sick. You need to see a doctor."

"What? I just was a little dizzy."

"Winry, you don't pass out from dizziness! Take the day off. I'm going to call the doctor and…"

"Ed?"

"What?"

She punched him in the shoulder.

"Owww, what was that for?"

She grinned, "Get that awful look off your face! It looks like you think I'm going to die or something. I can take care of myself."

"Winry, please… just…" but he was interrupted by the sound of crying from the other room. Mina was making a racket and calling out, "Moommmy! Brother's not talking to meeee!"

Winry sighed at the ruckus and smiled at him, "How about I agree to see a doctor if _you _take care of the kids for a day?"

"Deal," he agreed quickly.

* * *

The doctor told them that Winry had a rare, latent disease, one of the odd kinds that could not be noticed until the latter stage of its development. The doctor also said it wasn't curable, but it was treatable. Her lifespan could be lengthened a considerable amount of time, long enough to see her children grow up, and maybe even until they found a cure.

A doctor in Dublith had developed a recent experimental treatment. Edward immediately decided to travel there and purchase it, alone of course, since Winry didn't have the strength to travel in her condition, and the kids would be better off staying with her.

This was perfectly fine with Winry of course, since he said he would be back in two weeks at the most. Ed started packing immediately and furiously, with determination and focus that he hadn't needed to tap into since he had been searching for the philosopher's stone. The moment he had learned about Winry's illness, he had felt like someone had tied a weight to his chest, a weight achingly similar to when his brother Alphonse had been trapped in armor.

The only thing to distract himself from this heaviness, as he knew very well, was to work tirelessly for a solution.

His mind was busy planning his trip to Dublith (as well as a future that involved him becoming a medical expert and seeing if he could develop a cure) while his body was busy packing. He hardly noticed when Winry placed his hand gently on his shoulder.

…which was why, when he didn't respond, she smacked him with a wrench to make sure that he noticed that time.

"Ow! Winry, what-?"

"To get you to pay attention to me, you idiot!" she yelled. "You're acting like I'm going to die. I'm not." Her voice got a bit softer. "This isn't the end of the world, okay? You look like… you look like you used to when…you know. I don't want to feel like that ever again. So stop it."

"You're dying, Winry," he said, his voice strained, "I don't see how I can pretend this is okay."

She gave him an encouraging smile. She was probably one of the few people in the world who could smile the same afternoon they discovered Death knocking at their front door. "Well, everyone dies, Ed. I think you know that."

"Winry_, please_—"

"But I am _definitely _not going to die any time soon, because you are going to go get this treatment, and it is going to work, and I will live at least another ten years. And who knows? Maybe someone will find a cure in a few years. At any rate, we can live with this. We can keep moving, and we can do it _without _allowing ourselves to be consumed by anxiety. Got it?"

He sighed. "Yeah, I got it," he mumbled.

"And you are going to finish packing as soon as possible and have a nice evening with me and the kids, okay?"

"No, I think I better leave tonight so that I can get to Dublith as fast as…"

"No, Edward. You are staying here tonight, and we are going to have a lovely evening together as a family."

Knowing better than to argue with her, he said, "Fine."

Winry walked out, about to leave the room, but then she turned back, and said as an afterthought, "You should talk to our son, too, before you go."

"Huh?" he asked. "Why?"

"I don't know. He hasn't said a word for a few days now. Don't you think that's odd?"

"Have you asked him what's wrong?" Ed said.

"Yes, but he hasn't told me," his wife said, "Hopefully, you'll be able to get more out of him. And you should do it tonight, before you leave, because I don't want to deal with him sulking the entire time you're gone."

"Alright. I'll get to it after packing."

* * *

Edward found his son sitting outside behind some rocks, as though trying to be somewhere he couldn't be found. The little kid was hunched over, his hands around his knees, and his eyebrows furrowed as though he was thinking very hard.

"Hey there," Ed said to his son.

The boy's head jolted up in surprise. "Oh. Dad," he said, his voice kind of flat.

"So, what are you doing out here?" he asked.

"Ummm," the boy said, "I'm…thinking."

"Did something upset you?"

He didn't respond.

"Something at school?"

The boy tensed for a moment.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," his son replied.

Edward replied, "If something's bothering you, then you should tell me or your mom. We'll understand."

His son looked up at him. "You're leaving tonight?"

"Tomorrow. Your mother wanted me to stay one more night."

His son's face twisted with a mixture of childlike hope and sadness. "Dad? Can I come with you?"

Ed looked at his kid, surprised. "What? Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't like it here. I don't wanna stay. I wanna go with you," his son pleaded, his eyebrows still furrowed.

"You need to stay in school," Ed said, thinking to himself how much he sounded like a Dad at the moment. He hadn't stayed in school himself, so this was a bit of hypocrisy on his part…

"I don't wanna stay in school. I hate school!"

"What happened?"

The kid frowned and looked away, mumbling, "Nothing."

"Well, what about your mother and Mina? Don't you want to stay with them."

The boy curled up and looked into his knees, his eyebrows furrowing even more deeply. "Not really," he said, roughly.

"I'm sure that you would miss them after a few days."

"No, I wouldn't. I just want to go away from here."

Edward put his hands on his son's shoulder. The boy winced, but then looked up into his father's eyes. Edward said, "If it is that bad, then you really better tell me what happened. Trust me."

His boy still said nothing, but just gulped roughly.

"Here, let me show you something. Come inside." Ed stood up, and pulled up his four-year-old son. Holding his hand, he took his son into the house. Winry raised an eyebrow at them, but said nothing. Ed took a book down from the topmost shelf and went over to sit on the couch. His son followed.

"You're already pretty good at alchemy for a kid your age. You like what your uncle did when he came to visit?"

"Huh… yeah," his son answered, not able to keep a sudden spark of interest from his eyes.

"What did you like the best?"

"The armor moving thing."

"Well. In this book is all about how your Uncle Al can do all that stuff. And if you really want to know how to do it… well, maybe I can teach a bit of it to you."

"But Dad, you can't do alchemy."

"It's true that I can't do alchemy," Ed said, "But, hey, I've hung out enough around your Uncle to know how it works in theory." A half lie. He would explain when the kid was older. For now, he didn't want to burden his children with their shocking tale. "I can definitely give you the array that allows you to move the armor."

His son's eyes were wide now, but he was still skeptical. "But that's just an old cookbook."

"Oh? Well, I suppose it is an old cookbook. However, it's also something else. It's a secret code."

"A secret code?"

"Yes. And I'll teach you how to crack it if you'll tell me what's bothering you."

His son's eyes were wide and round, but he was still hesitant.

"Well?" asked his father.

"I…" he gulped. "It would be hard… right now. Can I…later?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can you teach me now and I tell you later."

"No, you evil kid," said Ed, "That's not how Equivalent Exchange works."

The boy looked down.

"Well, you know, if you need time, then we can certainly wait until I come back."

His son folded his arms and drew his lips into a straight line. "But that'll take so long!"

"But maybe it will be enough time for you to be able to talk about whatever's bothering you. Okay?"

His son paused for about a minute, thinking hard. Then, he said, "Okay."

"Then it's a deal! We'll exchange information when I come back." Edward found himself clapping his hands together, an instinctive gesture that he found himself making out of habit. "But for now, how about let's just have some fun tonight, okay?"

His son nodded.

* * *

So Edward Elric left the next day for Dublith, expecting to return soon.

The day after he left, Winry received a letter in the mail from Central, addressed to her husband. She opened it up and found an invitation to Mustang's inauguration as Fuhrer.

She smiled to herself when she read the inscription, and placed it on the shelf to give to Ed when he came home.

* * *

The first thing that turned out unexpectedly: the researcher that Ed was looking for was no longer in Dublith. After finding an empty facility and asking around, he discovered the Dr. Oppenheimer had moved his practice to Central just a week or so ago. One of the locals gave him the address.

Annoyed but still diligent, Ed hopped on the first train to Central. When he arrived there, he was surprised to find some sort of holiday going on.

"What's all this celebrating about?" he asked someone.

"The new Fuhrer's being inaugurated today," the person responded. "Fuhrer Mustang."

Ed's jaw dropped, and then he laughed loudly. The person looked confused and walked off.

Ed decided that he would drop by and pay back the 520 cens, and maybe borrow some more until the bastard had turned the country into a democracy. But he was busy now, so he went to find Dr. Oppenheimer first.

He found the clinic. It was closed during the celebration. Ed swore out loud, and kicked a loose rock on the ground. He wondered what he should do now. Then, as his frustration wore off, he thought of a few things: visit Hughes' grave, for one thing. Maybe he should stop by and see how Elysia was growing up, and pay his debt to the new Fuhrer. It would be nice to see how the old team was doing.

In a slightly better mood after thinking those things, he decided to give the 520 cens back first. He would leave it on Mustang's desk, he decided (wherever the hell the new Fuhrer's desk was now) probably with some kind of note, and deal with talking to the bastard in the morning.

He was actually able to find out where the new Fuhrer's office would be, and he got a guard to go put the 520 cens on the desk for him. Then, he made his way to find a hotel or something, since it was getting dark.

He walked past some alleyways, away from the celebrating in the main streets. In hindsight, he should have known better than to walk in such a deserted area.

Whatever he had been thinking at the time, it was lost as he was interrupted by the noisy sound of a muffled sobbing. He looked around: the noise seemed to be coming from an alleyway, so he walked to it.

There was a young boy, probably around eight or so, slumped against the wall, weeping his heart out. He was covering his face and trying to smother the sobs, as if loath to be heard. It was to no avail, of course.

"Hey, kid?" Ed asked, approaching the boy. "What's wrong? Where are your parents?" He got close to the boy, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Fatherly instincts came naturally to him, after having kids of his own.

The boy flinched when he was touched, but wailed out none the less, "Mama…I lost Mama in the parade…And, and when I tried to find her, I got all lost, and I'm _really hungry…_"

"It's okay," Ed said, comforting the kid, "We'll find your mother. We should go to the police now and tell them your name. I'm certain your mother is worried."

The boy stopped sobbing and asked, "Wh-where are the police?"

"I'll take you to them."

A bit hesitant, the boy said, "But you're a stranger."

"Well, I won't force you to do anything, but I'll just take you to the police station. I'm sure your mother told you that you could trust them, right?"

"R-right," the kid said hesitantly.

"So, let's go then," Ed said, patting the kid on the shoulder.

All of this was perfectly fine, until the kid looked up and the two had a good look into each other's eyes. Ed felt his insides quake, and chills run down his spine.

Black hair. Black eyes. Familiar childish face. Target-shaped mark on the center of his forehead.

Selim Bradley. Or, unfortunately, Pride the Homunculus.

Ed was frozen; Selim stared up in equal shock and recognition. His eyes widened, with something that might have been fear.

"Who are you?" the kid asked in a whisper, "You… You've come to kill me, haven't you?" He clutched his head , digging his fingers into his skin. "I… I…No… stop, stop it… I don't… stop it, NO!"

Selim's eyes turned into a malicious shade of purple. Ed only narrowly dodged the sudden attack directed at his head, formed like a black spear from the shadows. He leapt back and kicked away the next attack with his automail leg.

What I wouldn't give for alchemy right now, Edward thought to himself as he dodged his way through Pride's attacks. Or another metal limb to defend myself, he added mentally.

Ed's eyes were focused on Selim's face. He noticed, in the heat of the moment that it wasn't _Pride's _face, not as he remembered it. There was none of the usual arrogance or coolness; there was only a blank look, as he clearly tried to conceal what looked like fear and desperation…

* * *

The rest of the battle was a blur of adrenaline and fear. Ed tried desperately to dodge or kick away the next attack, while retreating into what he hoped was a safer area. He didn't have any time to think, or strategize how he would get out of this mess. Pride's weakness was complete darkness or flashing light. But he had no way to exploit those weaknesses… or did he?

It was getting dark. The last streaks of light soon disappeared over the tops of the Central buildings. Edward Elric found himself in a dark, abandoned warehouse—had he run instinctively towards a place with no light? He hadn't actually had time to think about it. He found himself groping around in the dark, looking for something he could use, anything…

He heard a glassy clank, and felt the ground that he had just stepped on. There was broken glass, on the ground. His heart leapt: he could use this. He took a long shard of the glass, and grasped it firmly in his right hand, not even wincing as he started to bleed.

He was waiting behind a corner in the dark when Selim came in. The boy wasn't nearly as clever as he previous self (thank goodness!) no matter what he was suddenly remembering right now. The former alchemist took his chance and lunged at him, sticking the shard of glass to his throat.

"Your shadows so much as twitch," he said, dangerously calm, "And I'll slit your throat."

He saw the dark-haired boy wince and tremble. Those were terrible words to say to a child, even a dangerous homunculus. Edward wondered himself whether or not he would do it. He had spared this child eight years ago; what would the point have been if he ended up killing him now?

Fuck that, Edward thought to himself, he had his family to get back to! Winry was sick, and needed him to come back with medicine. His children were four and three—no way would he end up like that bastard Hohenheim, not able to see his kids grow up! He would do anything, _anything _to get out of this alive.

So, if it came down to it, he knew he could slit the child's throat.

But it didn't seem like it would come to that. He saw the purple melt out of the child's eyes, and turn back into a very human looking black. Selim looked at him, his face suddenly sad like any little kid's might be.

"Are you going to kill me?" he asked, a little fear in his voice.

Edward responded in a firm voice, "If you give me reason to."

"I don't… want to…"

"Die? Well, if you behave, then neither of us have to. I'll just turn you in to the…"

Before he could finish though, he was interrupted. The doors to the dark warehouse opened, and light shone in. Both Ed and Selim started at the interruption, and turned to face the new opening. Three officers, who seemed to have been on patrol duty, stared at the scene.

Oh shit… Ed thought to himself. "This isn't what it-" he began, only to be cut off again.

"Let go of the child, or we'll shoot!" one of the officers said as he aimed a gun at Ed's face.

"I can't do that, off-"

For the third time, Ed was cut off. This time, by bullets. Five of them, landing straight in his side like miniature explosions of pain. His vision blurred, but he kept his hand grasping the knife close to Selim's throat.

Oh shit, oh shit, not good, not good… he thought desperately. He feebly told his hand to hold up the knife, to not weaken, but...no, now his knees were weakening and he felt the air whirl around his head. He fell. His head hit the floor. He heard the thump. Through his blurry vision he saw the pictures of his family fall out of his coat pocket, all bloody and ridden with holes.

It was so blurry; so far away. He felt a dull throb, in synch with how the world around him came in and out of focus. He saw Selim's eyes watch him as he fell down, with something like horror. Of course, Ed thought, he probably still hasn't gotten his memories, so it's like a kids witnessing death for the first time.

The officers came and asked Selim hurriedly if he was hurt. Selim's face was ridden with horror still, but then, it changed. A dawning of realization came over it. "You all saw him…" the boy said, dazedly, "If you tell anyone, give a description… they'll know. They'll kill me."

Ed gasped, "No, Selim… don't…"

But the boy's eyes had already switched from black back to purple. Ed's vision blurred and he saw darkness swirl around the men, swallowing them. Their cries seemed to meld together, nearly muted to Ed's ears as everything fell out of focus once more.

Focus, he tells himself. Think! Don't stop thinking! Stopping means death. Hurry. Get up. Run for your life, run for Winry's life and the possibility of seeing your children grow. There has to be something to…

His thoughts are blurring, too, fading into what might be sleep. No, he tells himself. He suddenly remembers so many random moments from his life: time with his mother, his childhood with Alphonse, his father, his mother's sickness and death (be sure to transmute some flowers for me dear), human transmutation, Automail, pain, pain, pain, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, all the faces on the team, Nina, Liore, Rose, philosopher's stone, Briggs, Olivier Armstrong, sacrifices, death, the day that he spared Pride, Alphonse back in his body, smiling, himself standing at the train station, shaking with nervousness as he tried to speak with Winry, DON'T STOP THINKING!

He's not the only one whose survival depends on this. "Winry," he finds himself muttering out aloud, as though in a vain attempt to keep himself alive, "Alphonse, my son, my daughter, Mustang's team… I have to…" FOCUS! GET OUT ALIVE.

The men's screams have stopped. Ed can't really see much anymore, but he sees the shadows swirling over to him. Was there really nothing he could do?

_Oh-ho, well, this is the price you pay for your mercy, Mr. Former Al-che-mist._

Ed's eyes snapped open, "No!" he said, "I have to live… for them.. please… Winry… sick… can't leave… yet…"

_Is there ever a time when you would actually be ready to go? A time when you would willing be separated? Would dying tomorrow or ten years from now be somehow more fulfilling? Tell me that._

"Are you… going to kill me now?... Selim? Like this?"

Through the swirl of his vision, Ed saw Selim's face. Again, not so arrogant or inhuman as he remembered it from when he first faced the monster. Very, very confused, actually. He seemed to be in shock that he had actually killed those men, gesturing wildly with his tiny hands as though trying to excuse himself. Were there tears running down his eyes? Ed couldn't tell. But he knew that he had one last chance to…

"Selim… medicine for my family… the prescription… with the pictures… please, get it to Winry…"

The boy looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.

"Are you… going to kill me? Please… my family… Winry…"

_If you hadn't given up your alchemy, you wouldn't be in this predicament, now would you? You thought that you had somehow beaten the system by giving up your power. In actuality, you just prepared yourself for this._

There were faces flashing in front of Ed's eyes, now. Winry. Alphonse. Mustang. Granny Pinako. Izumi. His children…

(There were all those photos on the ground. He looked at them. His eyes lingered on the family picture, the one with all of them: Alphonse, Mei, Winry, the kids, and himself.)

Will I really die like this? Edward wondered. Can I even…?

But before he could finish his thought, darkness engulfed him.

* * *

Winry Elric received a package in the mail: the prescription she needed, along with instructions about how and when to take them. The package was large enough that it contained a lifetime supply of the stuff. There was no return address.

Winry sighed, and slapped her forehead. What could he be doing? He promised to _come back _with the medicine, not send it from somewhere with no return address.

Sometimes, she didn't know how she ever put up with him.

* * *

"_My _Dad's going to teach me alchemy when he gets back," Edward Elric's son told the other children at school one week after his father was gone.

"I want Daddy to tell his stories," his daughter confided to her brother approximately three weeks after their father had gone. "Why can't he come home from Dublith right now?"

"He's always been like this," Winry confided to a friend after he was gone a month. "Always traipsing off when everyone was least expecting it and not contacting for months on end. Him and his brother both!"

"Why hasn't Daddy come back yet?" little Mina asked after a month and a half. "I miss him."

"He _is _coming back," his son insisted adamantly when two months had slipped by. "He wouldn't just leave us. And I'm going to learn from him when he comes back. He promised."

"Hello? Yes, this is Winry Rockbell Elric. I would like to know if an Edward Elric is in town?...Don't you get sassy with me! My husband _came_ to find out about Dr. Oppenheimer and his work… _What? _The Doctor moved away four months ago? Then where…?"

"Dad will come back. Dad will come back. Don't cry, Mom… please don't cry…"

"Mommyyy!" Mina said, "The kids at school are mean! They said that Daddy's not coming back!"

Six months after Edward Elric left, his wife sent a telegram to Xing_: _

_Alphonse Stop. Ed's missing six months Stop. I am sick and cannot look for him Stop. Please come Stop._

The telegram was lost due to the disorganization of Xing, as the country was going through something of a revolution against the old emperor.

"I know that he would come back if he could, and that he would write me or call me if he could," Winry said to Rose when she visited one time, "And I _know _he has to be alive, but I'm afraid that he might be hurt somewhere, maybe lying in a hospital bed unconscious, _something _like that. And I'm scared. I'm so scared."

"I'm the only reason that Dad wouldn't want to come back," Elric's son said to his friend, Edward Thomas, Rose's son. "Because I'm a bad kid. The principal says I'm a bad, disobedient kid and that my Dad probably didn't want to put up with me, so that's why he left. He says I'm a, what was it? so-see-oh-path. Sociopath. He's probably right…"

Eight months after he left, Mina flew into a rage at school when another student called her little. At home, her mother smiled underneath her chiding and said that she was behaving just like her father. The little girl snapped, "I don't care! I don't care! Dad's not coming back! He's gone! He hates us! And I hate him; I hope he's dead!"

Nine months after he left, when her brother was asked tauntingly by the other students whether or not he had learned alchemy from his father yet, the boy's eyes clouded over and he just hunched unresponsively over in a corner and put his head on his knees. He didn't get up even to go to class or lunch, not even when kids laughed at him or the teacher shrieked at him. They lifted him up and sat him in the principal's office. But he didn't care; he had already been to the principal's office anyway.

Ten months after the fact, Winry Rockbell Elric started taking out pictures of the entire family and laughing over all of the individual moments. Her children came timidly forward and asked what Mom was doing. She started showing them the pictures, talked about how big they'd grown, and about how much like their father they had become.

Mina pouted when she heard that, but her brother just asked, "Really?"

"Yes, you look so much like him! And Mina, you are like him too, in many ways… Come on," she said, patting the sofa, "Come look with me."

The children hesitantly climbed up the sofa. Mina sat in her mother's lap and her brother sidling up besides them. Winry placed an arm around her son, and picked up a photo in her other hand. "See? I don't think you remember this, but this was our only photograph with Uncle Al and Aunt May. Do you remember them?"

"Brother's smiling in it. He never does that in pictures," Mina pointed out.

Her brother scowled. But then, Winry laughed, "Yes, he doesn't like cameras. Do you, baby?" she asked, rubbing his head. The scowl disappeared. "And you both of you remember this one?" she asked, "You helped Mina up after she fell."

"Hey, Mommy!" Mina said, "You shouldn't take pictures of people when they're not looking."

"I remember that," her older brother murmured softly.

They looked at the pictures for at least an hour, the kids mesmerized by the strange power they had to make their mom smile again.

"He's definitely coming back. I know him. He always left before and got into trouble and got himself and his automail smashed up, but he'll come back. He has to."

* * *

Fourteen years later, when Edward Thomas visited Edward Elric's son in prison for the second time, he brought the family photos. His yellow-eyed friend looked at them.

"Why'd you bring these?" he asked.

Edward Thomas was relieved. He had expected his friend to burst into a fit of rage and either tear up the pictures or burn them. Instead, he just eyed them with a mixture of boredom and disdain, as though they had lost any meaning to him. His eyes lingered for a moment on the family reunion photo, with his uncle and aunt along and long lost dad holding him as a kid, while his mother held Mina.

Thomas said, "Well, you told me to bring the family photos."

"Family photos? I didn't mean for you to do this."

His voice was as calm as it ever got. Of course, calm for this kid sounded less like peaceful and more like: _this matter is too small to get me angry, so kindly fuck off. _

"Of course," Thomas said.

The young Elric looked at the photo of himself comforting his sister. "I don't know why you brought these fucking things. What's your point? You some kind of sadist or something, thinking that somehow this will hurt?"

Thomas said nothing.

"It doesn't," the blond said, "I honestly don't give a fuck about any of these pictures. I am, however, slightly pissed that you are trying to wrench my heartstrings or whatnot. You think that somehow invoking happy memories will make a fucking difference, that I will suddenly remember how much I care about family or something like that? Ha. What's really funny is that you believe that even though," he flipped the picture around, showing it to his companion, "you know how this story ended."

And with that sentence, he let the photos slip easily out of his fingers.

The young Elric's body language indicated complete nonchalance, complete lack of concern or feeling. Yet there was a challenge behind his eyes: _I don't care. You think you can make me care? Go ahead, try. You'll just make me laugh. I have no heart, no possible feeling. So don't you _dare _pull this again._

Thomas felt all of these things in his friend's yellow glare. He absorbed the reaction for a moment, and said evenly, "But the story hasn't ended yet."

A pause.

"So no, I don't know how it ends. But it doesn't have to end with blood and pain and Mina a soulless body and you locked up in prison. We can still fix all of this."

* * *

**Reviews, please! Criticism, please! I know I just killed off the most popular FMA character, and I am certain that certain people are upset that a story is going to continue without everyone's favorite shorty, but... I hope I haven't alienated all of you.**

**Oh, by the way, this image thing is a pain. I don't think my profile picture is a good cover for this story. If anyone else has a picture to suggest, then I would appreciate it.**

**Flames are welcome. Harsh criticism is appreciated. Just review!**


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